Combined tilting stool and basket



Aug. 4, 1936. -r. -r. GREENWOOD 2,049,539

COMBINED TILTING STOOL AND BASKET Filed March 30, 1935 Fi? /M his mit the occupant t'oflreach various parts bfthe:

' receive various objects," legs or sufficiently widely spacedapart the periphery of H .the bottom part as to allowiunimpeded access to.

Patented Aug. 4, 1936 EszNT F E This invention relates to stools and particularly to a stool so constructed as to serve also asatray or basket.

One of the objectsoffthepresentinvention is the provision of a stool falia'ptedprimarily for use 'in' the garden, the stool "being so arranged that it has a broad are'aed'bottompart sothatthe stool does not sink into or undes ably mark the 7 surface of the ground onjwihichi' rests,'thestool 1 being also 'capable'ot pivotal'and'rocking movement so that'the' userfcanbend forwardand swing around torea'ch variousjpartsf'ofthe gardenjthe stool being also so arrangedthatit""will stand upright when not in "use; and being further so arranged that it can be used as'a baslgetto're- 'ceive small garden tools; flowers, weeds, and the like, which canbe placed in and taken from the stool when the stool is in service;

A yet further object of'the invention-is a stool comprising a seat, a bottom part and legsor uprights spacing and conn cting; the" seat and bottom, the bottom part being concave onithe' bot tom side and convex on the'top'fside, theconcave bottom part presenting a broad surface-that supports the stool and the occupant thredfwithout embedding into. the ground"and perinitsthe'stool to berocked andpivotedjin any Jdirection to pergarden, the bottom'part bein g" further"characterized by having a flat middle portion of sufficiently broad area to support'the stool stably'in upright position when not in use andtliefcon cave upper i tom ot the'plate and forms a shallow tray or -basket. The annular edge or rim portion 22 is face of the bottom f unctioningl'a's affbasket:to

the basket.

A yet rt is i cf the vision of a stool as a seat portion has a han e'so the way when .theseat is occupied,

of the stool to an unsafe degree? A yet further objectiis generally tq a ve the of ast lembodycross:section, as' illustrated in Fig. 4. The upper :...-eds .2 f th le s re... :tfla inwar y. towa d 55 Fig. 3 is a sectional elevation taken along line -3 -3 of Fig. 2.

Fig; 4 is a sectional View taken along line 4-4 of Fig. 3.

Fig.5 is an elevation of the stool in its extreme 5 tilted position.

' 'Fig. 6 is an enlarged sectional detail showing the manner of securing the uprights or-legs ofthe stool to the top and bottom members.

. Fig. 7 is a'view similar to Fig. 3 showing a modi- 10 fied construction. The stool embodying the present invention comprises a circular'top plate Hi constituting a seat, a circular bottom plate l2 of about the same diameter as .the seat plate constituting the bottom support, and. four legs or uprights l4 that space and connect the top and bottom plates. iThe legs are equiangularly spaced around the circumference of both plates. The seat plate .H] is formed iof sheet metal of suitable thickness, is circular in configuration, and has a downturned peripheral .flang'e. Hithat not only increases the stiffness of the seat but at the same time presents a broad edge to the seat. The bottom plate 12 is also of tion I8 is convex onthe bottom, as at 20, and is 3 correspondingly concave on its upper. or inner facesolthat'the edge 22 upstands above the botdovvnturned so astoform a positive stop memher, as is illustrated in Fig. 5, to limit the tilting ,Iof the stool beyond a safe position. The rim por- "tioni22 als'oprovides'the bottom plate Within- 1'Cieased resistance to deformation. "Thestool is preferably'not greatly higher than it is broad in 40 be transported bodily like a basket, tii'eheii'dlei'f i' me and t radius f e f the being collapsible so that itcanbe placed o ut of.

concave portion 26' is preferably relatively large as, for instance, approximately three-quarters the Another Object ofvthemvenfion is thelptofision c helght 0f the stool, so that the angle between the of a stool as above described-wherein the bottom.. part has a downturried rim that engages the ground when the stool is'tilt'ed sufiiciently and thereby acts as a stop to prevent further tilting:

concave portion and the flat portion I8 is nearly 180"; and thus in the tilting of the stool the travel of theline of contact'with the ground from the e flat'portion to the concave portion is unnoticeable, 'and also. that the ground will not'be marked in any harmful manner by the use and tilting of the center of the seat within the flange l6 and engage the bottom face of the seat and are suitably secured thereto as by spot welding. The lower ends 28 of the legs are also inwardly refiexed at an angle corresponding to the curvature of the concave portion 20 of the bottom and are also suitably secured thereto as by spot welding. Preferably the webs 38 of the channels extend into the reflexed end portions of the legs. The legs are secured to the peripheral portions of both the seat and the bottom plates so as to leave the concave inner face of the bottom plate free and clear to receive garden tools, flowers, and other objects. There is ample space between the legs to permit unimpeded access to the basket.

The stool is provided with a collapsible handle. For this purpose the seat is provided with a pair of openings or slots 32, the slots being located on opposite sides of the center of the seat. The handle comprises a thin metal strip having a handle portion 34 and at the ends thereof vertical legs 36 that are loosely disposed in the slots 32 and terminate in the out-turned feet 38 that underlie the bottom face of the seat and prevent the handle from being disengaged therefrom. Normally the handle portion rests loosely upon the top face of the seat but can be easily raised into the dotted line position of Fig. 5 and grasped by the hand to permit the seat and the loaded basket tobecarried about.

In the modification illustrated in Fig. 7 the change in construction resides mainly in the manner of attaching the legs or uprights Ma. to the seat. and the bottom plates. In this modification the legs Ma are of channel shape as before but instead of having reflexed ends are terminated in square ends. The upper ends abut against the lower'face of the seat plate and the lower ends abut against the downturned rim 22a. of the bottom plate, the top face of which rim is for this purpose flat as at 40. In this modification the legs are preferably butt welded to both the seat and bottom plates.

The stool as thus constructed is light so that it can be carried readily by a woman into the various parts of the garden even when the basket contains the usual small garden tools, such as clippers, trowel, or the like, or when the basket is stacked with flowers or weeds.

Because of the broad area of the bottom plate the stool can be used upon the turf and upon the soft soil of a garden without sinking into or bedding down the soil in any deleterious manner. The pivoting and tilting functions of the stool are advantageous in permitting the user to lean forwardly or backwardly and swing around to reach a relatively large area of garden without shifting the position of the stool which has to be frequently done with a stool that can not tilt and pivot. The broad fiat middle area of the stool permits the stool to stand stably in upright position when it is not in use so that the contents of the basket will not spill out. The basket is freely accessible even when the stool is in use and implements may be removed from and replaced in.

their work and the basket of the'stool holding and transporting their tools.

I claim:

1. A tilting stool comprising a seat member and a circular dish-shaped bottom member of sheet material having a spheroidal convex groundengaging bottom face, the middle part of said convex face having a circular flat part of sufiiciently broad area to support the stool stably in upright position, and legs connecting and spacing said seat and bottom members and disposed about the peripheral portions thereof.

2. A tilting stool and basket comprising a seat plate and a circular spheroidal sheet metal bottom plate of dish-shape and convex on one side and concave on the other side, the concave side confronting the seat plate and constituting a basket, and the convex side constituting a stool supporting surface on which the stool can tilt and pivot,the middle part of said bottom plate having a flat circular part of sufficiently broad area to support the stool stably in upright position, and. legs connected to and rising from the peripheral part of said bottom plate and attached to the seat plate, the legs being peripherally spaced to permit unimpeded access to the interior of the basket. 7

3. A tilting stool comprising a seat member and V a circular dish-shaped bottom member of sheet material having a spheroidal convex groundengaging bottom face, the middle part of said convex face having a circular flat part of sumciently broad area to support the stool stably in upright position, and legs connecting and spacing i said seat and bottom members, said bottom member having a peripheral downturned flange constituting both an annular stop limiting the tilting of the stool and a reinforcing rim for said bottom member.

4. A tilting stool andbasket comprising a seat I plate and a circular spheroidal dish-shaped bottom plate of sheet material convex on one side and concave on the other side, the concave side confronting the seat plate and constituting a basket, and the convex side constituting a stool supporting surface on which the stool can tilt and pivot, the middle part of said bottom plate having a fiat circular part of sufficiently broad area to support the stoolstably in upright position, and legs connected to and rising from the peripheral part of said bottom plate and attached to the seat plate, the legs being peripherally spaced to permit unimpeded access to the interior of the basket, said bottom member having a peripheral downturned flange constituting both an annular stop limiting the tilting of the stool and 'a reinforcing'rim for said bottom member.

1 5. A tilting stool comprising a seat member and a circular dish-shaped bottom member of sheet material having a spheroidal convex groundengaging bottom face, the middle part of said convex face having a circular flat part of sufficiently broad area to support the stool stably in upright position, and legs connecting and spacing said seat and bottom members, the upper face of said bottom member having an upstanding peripheral part and thereby constituting a basket, and said legs rising from and spaced about said peripheral part.

6. A tilting stool comprising a seat member and a circular dish-shaped bottom member ofsheet material having a spheroidal convex groundengaging bottom face, the middle part of said convex face having a circular flat part of sumciently broad area to'support the stool stably in 75 upright position, and legs connecting and spacing said seat and bottom members, and a handle connected with the middle part of said seat and having means by which it is movable into service and out of use positions.

7. A tilting stool and basket comprising a seat plate and a circular spheroidal dish-shaped bottom plate of sheet material convex on one side and concave on the other side, the concave side confronting the seat plate and constituting a basket, the convex side constituting a stool supporting surface on which the stool can tilt and pivot, the middle part of said bottom plate having a flat circular part of sufficiently broad area to support the stool stably in upright position, legs connected to and rising from the peripheral part of said bottom plate and attached to the seat plate, the legs being peripherally spaced to permit unimpeded access to the interior of the basket, and a handle connected with the middle part of said seat and having means by which it is movable into service and out of use positions.

8.- A combined tilting stool and basket comprising a seat plate and a circular spheroidal dishshaped bottom plate of sheet material concave on one side and convex on the other side, both plates having approximately the same diameter, the concave side of said bottom plate facing said seat plate and constituting a basket, the convex side constituting a stool supporting surface on which access to said basket, and a collapsible handle carried by the middle part of said seat plate.

TALMA T. GREENWOOD. 

